Multi-channel communication techniques are used, for example, to overcome notches in the transfer function of a communication system. Such notches effectively act as either low-pass or no-pass filters at various frequencies. The use of multiple channels allows designers to avoid these notches. In a multi-channel communication system, data is put on each of the channels separately and the channels are multiplexed into a single signal. At the receiver, the multiple channels are demultiplexed. The signal in each channel is brought down to baseband and the data are extracted. Extracting the data for a given channel entails generating a sampling signal at an appropriate frequency and aligning the sampling signal with the data for the given channel.
Performing these operations in a hard-wired digital design becomes more difficult as the data rate on each channel increases. Also, performing these operations with a standard digital signal processing (“DSP”) core, or with a processor machine operating on an accumulator-architecture, may limit the achievable data rate for a given integrated circuit technology process.